The Harding Office of Alumni and Parent Relations launched a revised version of hardingtickets.com.
The website which was previously used to buy tickets for events such as Spring Sing and the Homecoming musical has been redesigned to consolidate ticket availability to one medium. Tickets for events such as banquets, luncheons, athletic events, and theater productions are all accessible online. The new site allows buyers to order tickets and have them sent to their computers or phones instead of having to go to the box office.
University Ticket sales suggested a revised version of the website to vice president of alumni and parent relations Liz Howell to improve the efficiency of their sales platform. Howell said she was excited about the idea and wanted to see how it would work in action. During the spring semester of 2017, the musical group The Oak Ridge Boys came to campus providing the perfect opportunity for a trial run. They received positive feedback especially about one specific feature of the new system.
“One of the positive things of it is that you can actually see your seats,” Howell said. “It’s very much like any professional ticket system. It’s very user friendly.”
The new ticketing system also has many benefits for the different departments on campus. It lists all events in one place so that someone going online to buy athletic tickets will be exposed to other events happening on campus.
“It means we can spend more time marketing our products instead of taking care of ticket sales,” Steve Frye, chair of the Department of Theatre, said. “It can let the campus know ‘Here are the things that are going on on our campus.’ It becomes a central location for everything which is going to benefit us in the long run.”
According to junior Meagan Hoard, students notice the change already and are happy about the accessibility of purchasing tickets.
“I like that there will be one outlet for tickets because as a student I was very confused about where to go to purchase tickets,” Hoard said. “This way, when I know an event is happening, I know where to go for tickets instead of trying to figure it out between the different places.”
